Google Expands AI Ads, Visual, Audio Search

The apparel sector shows strong demand compared to other industries experiencing subdued or stable demand. Despite this, all sectors saw increased consumer engagement in June. The rise in website sessions, alongside flat demand, indicates heightened consumer interest. However, fewer orders may reflect economic uncertainties despite a 3.38% increase in average order values from the previous year, suggesting cautious consumer spending. Businesses should adopt strategies to capitalize on consumer engagement while navigating economic challenges for sustained growth. Economists anticipate a slowdown and speculate on potential Federal Reserve interest rate cuts by September. The upcoming 2024 presidential election introduces financial and investment uncertainties, with J.P. Morgan Wealth Management discussing these implications and emphasizing sector-specific impacts like finance and healthcare. Despite short-term market volatility, the long-term effects of elections on markets and the economy remain unpredictable, urging investors to maintain a stable, long-term financial strategy.

Republican Senator Josh Hawley, a frequent critic of tech companies, has unveiled a bill that would require web publishers to avoid personalized advertising in order to maintain their protections from lawsuits based on users' speech. “Big Tech’s manipulative advertising regime comes with a massive hidden price tag for consumers while providing almost no return to anyone but themselves,” the Missouri lawmaker stated Tuesday. His proposed “Behavioral Advertising Decisions Are Downgrading Services (BAD ADS) Act” would strip large web companies of the protection of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act if the companies either engage in what he calls “behavioral advertising,” or allow users' data to be collected for such advertising.

Even as U.S. consumer price inflation has begun moderating, advertisers and planners and buyers are seeing their costs move in the opposite direction -- especially for TV and "print" media -- according to just-released first quarter media price inflation estimates form ECI Media Management. While TV ad costs continue to be under water and moving in a deflationary direction, the erosion of TV ad pricing power has improved from -5.1% in 2023 to -3.1% this year, according to ECI's tracking. Despite improvements in TV, newspaper and magazine prices, the overall cost of U.S. media has declined from a 1.5% inflation rate in 2023 to a 1.4% rate in 2024, with the main drivers being digital and out-of-home media, though radio has been inching up too.